Such a package or a holder has a pocket for the battery-powered device, e.g. flashlight, that in turn has an on-off switch. The package has an externally actuatable means for briefly turning on the device for testing purposes by closing the circuit of the device without opening the package. Such a system is described in US 2007/0206385.
Commercial goods are almost invariably sold in some sort of packaging. With electrical or electronic devices, there is a risk of damage that can be minimized by an appropriate package. It is also desirable to design the package so as to resist theft, and this requires that the packaged parts on the one hand cannot easily be removed from the package or the holder, and on the other hand that the size of the package thwart the unnoticed pocketing of the package and its contents. In addition, the package carry provide product information, advertising, a bar code, and other indicia on the outside of the package in enclosed inserts, cardboard, or the like.
A standard such package in the blister package that is made of an envelope formed by one or two plastic parts made of shaped plastic film and forming the device-holding pocket. When one of the films is transparent, the two parts can sandwich a sheet of cardboard with all this indicia, and having a hole aligned with the pocket and therefore surrounding the packaged item. Such a package is readily hung from a rack for display/storage/marketing purposes.
In packages of battery-powered lamps, in particular flashlights, the device can only be operated after it is unpackaged, which normally means after purchase. Thus a customer cannot be sure what he/she is buying is functional, or must arrange a laborious exchange or return. This is particularly a problem with low-end marketing where the sales people might not be familiar with inventory or have any discretion with regard to handling problems.
Thus in the above-described arrangement there is provided in the support or package an element that allows the device's switch to be temporarily actuated from outside without permanently affecting the packaging. Thus the device can be tested right at the display rack. The externally operable element actuating the device's switch can turn this switch on in such a manner that it will not stay on, so that as soon as the element is no longer actuated the device turns off. This makes it impossible to significantly discharge the device's battery by, for instance, reracking the device while it is turned on.
Other systems involve the use of an external switch in the form of a package-specific pushbutton or pressure element comprised of an elastic spring movable by external actuation along a path, but biased to move back to the off position when released. Here the pressure element acts on a pressure switch designed as a pushbutton that part of the device, and that is normally provided in addition to the standard on-off switch that holds in both the on and off positions. A final possible approach consists in using a pull or push element that is actuatable so as to move the pressure switch along the first slide-in path, a mechanically moved lever or similar means being used for this purpose.